After seven weeks, it’s an unfortunate reality that there are fantasy managers who are starting to find themselves out of the playoff hunt.
As a result, there are names that will find themselves on these cut lists for their last time moving forward, whether that be from multiple appearances, or the possibility that these underperformers were drafted by fantasy teams, and have contributed to their place at the cellars of their leagues.
Roster percentages are NFL.com, Yahoo, and ESPN
MATT RYAN (34.5%, 54%, 47%)
Just when it seemed like Matt Ryan could be finding his groove, an injury, and an insult to injury, have blossomed after the Colts’ loss to the Titans.
Perhaps things can change as the season goes on, but Ryan wasn’t enough of a producer and made too many mistakes to make it worth the hassle of waiting to see when he starts again.
JD MCKISSIC (12.5%, 18%, 36%)
JD McKissic’s fantasy relevance always came from negative game scripts, seeing a lot of the receiving work out of the backfield. Even then, he was a risky start and not guaranteed enough rushing volume to produce a solid fantasy line.
Now with Brian Robinson in the fold, Antonio Gibson has been seeing much of McKissic’s work. JD’s snap share has dropped weekly, from a season-high 53% in Week 3, to a season-low 16% this past weekend.
Even if an injury befalls Gibson or B-Rob, JD shouldn’t cost very much FAAB to get back if you drop him.
RUSSELL GAGE (59.6%, 27%, 37%)
Tyler Boyd promptly got himself off of last week’s Watch List after a monster performance against the Falcons. However, Russell Gage did not.
Not that he can’t have a monster game himself, but landing on which week it would happen is not worth the hassle. The fact that Boyd had his breakout makes him a catfish candidate, prime to disappoint fantasy managers who bet on Boyd having a hot streak.
I don’t know what’s going on with the Bucs’ offense, but after an anemic three-point performance against PJ Walker and the tanking Panthers, how can hope still be there that Gage can find fantasy relevance?
FINAL ENTRY: ROBERT WOODS (68.3%, 63%, 63%)
This is Robert Woods’ third appearance on the Cut List. If he still remains on a considerable amount of rosters moving forward, it may be because he contributed to cellar-dwelling teams who don’t care enough to alter their rosters with playoff hopes in the rearview mirror.
Regardless, the Titans’ offense has expectedly not been prolific enough to warrant hope for a second-half surge for Woods. His one touchdown so far, and his season-high catch total of only four, reflect as much.
GET THE SCISSORS READY…
KYLE PITTS (95.2%, 95%, 95%)
Kyle Pitts was supposed to enter the elite tier of tight ends this season. He had a record-breaking rookie season. He was created in a lab. He was a top-10 NFL Draft pick as a tight end. Yet, he’s the TE21 overall and averages 5.3 Half PPR points per game. He ranks below the likes of Daniel Bellinger, Juwan Johnson, Will Dissly, Ty Conklin, and many more creatures who combine to possess 1% of Pitts’ elite traits.
Even though the tight end is a weekly guessing game outside of the few elite ones, it might be time to cut bait with Pitts until Arthur Smith is no longer in charge. What’s even worse is that the Falcons are staying afloat in the NFC South, which is only making Smith’s case stronger to not feature his first-round tight end and first-round wide receiver, who may also be on the chopping block…
DRAKE LONDON (93.2%, 83%, 88%)
No matter the game script, Drake London just isn’t seeing enough volume. Apart from an eight-catch performance against the Rams, he’s only seen 5.4 targets per game.
Even in a negative game script against the Bengals in Week 7, Marcus Mariota only threw 13 passes. It looks like this offensive style is going to be too much to overcome for the rookie to find enough production to merit fantasy rosterability, unless something drastically changes.
JEFF WILSON (58.8%, 56%, 80%)
With Elijah Mitchell likely back after the 49ers’ Week 9 bye, Jeff Wilson is expected to be third on the RB depth chart after San Fran traded for Christian McCaffrey.
Not often does dropping a team’s third-string back carry fantasy risk, but this one might. The 49ers have had a rich history of running back injuries throughout Kyle Shanahan’s tenure.
Ask Raheem Mostert or Jerick McKinnon, how have they been lately. Ac-tive, which is a lot more than they could say during their respective Bay Area stints.
I try not to get too caught up in how “injury prone” players are, but clearly, thinking of the combination of CMC’s injury history, with San Fran running backs’ injury history, is too much for me to ignore.
ALEC PIERCE (53.4%, 56%, 41%)
Prior to Week 6, I think everyone was waiting for the point that Pierce would overtake Parris Campbell for playing time and establish himself as the Colts’ WR2. But then Campbell went off, garnering 23 targets the past two weeks and scoring in each game.
It’s tough to see Pierce rising past the WR3 role for Indy now, and with Sam Ehlinger taking over under center, easy to see more growing pains for the Colts’ offense.
